Chapter Text
Peter was in his last period english class when he got the text. His phone buzzed, and after checking to make sure the teacher wasn’t paying attention, he looked down at it. It was a text from Tony.
Tony Freaking Stark: Tower, after school. Happy will pick you up.
Peter frowned. Obviously he was thrilled to be able to spend time at the tower with Tony. Ever since the disaster that was homecoming, Tony had been spending a lot more time with him. Most weekends he’d go to the tower and work with Tony on his suit, and sometimes Tony would let him help with the ironman suits, which was the best thing to ever happen to him. Some weekends, he’d stay over at the tower (he had his own room!!!) just to hang out, watch movies, and do some homework.
As much as he looked forward to going to the tower, Peter couldn’t help the feeling of dread setting over him, because it was Wednesday. He wasn’t supposed to go to the tower on Wednesdays, that was one of the rules May made when she found out about spiderman, because although she supports Peter going to the tower, getting trained, and, as she puts it, “Doing sciencey things” and learning from Tony, she wants to make sure he stays on top of homework and also has time to hang out with his friends. So, the week was for school and social activities, and the weekend was for hanging out with Ironman. Tony knew about these rules, he supported and respected these rules. So the fact that he was disobeying them must mean something was wrong.
Peter’s brain helpfully supplied him with reasons why Tony might be asking him to the tower today.
Its May, he thought, May is hurt, May is in trouble, May-
He got another text. He checked it, and a wave of relief washed over him.
Tony Freaking Stark: Nothing is wrong. Stop freaking out. I checked with May, she said it’s okay.
Peter sighed. Sometimes it seemed like Tony could read his mind. He sent a quick text back.
Spidey: Nt freaking out. Can’t w8. C U soon :)
“Ahem,”
Peter looked up from his phone. Standing next to his desk was Mr. Marsh, his english teacher.
“I assume you're on your phone because you’ve finished your essay, Mr. Parker?” he asked, glancing down at the notebook on Peter’s desk, which only had about a paragraph and a half.
“No, Mr. Marsh, sorry.” Peter said, pocketing his phone.
“Alright, Peter,” Mr. Marsh said, starting to walk away, “But if I see that phone out again, it’s going straight to the principals office, and you can pick it up at the end of the day.”
“Yes, sir,” Peter replied, and picked up his pencil to start writing.
The rest of the period passed agonizingly slowly, until finally the bell sounded, and Peter leapt out of his chair, and hurried to his locker to pick up his backpack. Ned was waiting for him when he got there.
“Hey Peter,” he said, with a big smile on his face, “I’m going to buy the millennium falcon lego set right now!!”
“Dude that’s awesome!” Peter said as he opened his locker, “Can I build it with you?”
“Of course! Do you want to come buy it with me?”
“Sorry Ned, I totally would, but I’m going to the tower today.”
“But… It’s Wednesday?” Ned said, frowning, “I thought you weren’t allowed to go during the week?”
Peter closed his locker, and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
“So did I,” he said, as they walked through the hall to the door, “But apparently May okayed it? I have no idea why, though.”
“Alright, well, call me later?” Ned said, holding the door for Peter.
“Yeah, of course.” Peter said, “Send me a picture of the box!”
“I will,”
“And don’t open it without me!”
“Of course not, have fun with ironman!”
Peter was about to respond, when he heard a laugh coming from behind him. Normally someone laughing wouldn’t stop him from talking, but this laugh was very distinctive.
“Ironman? Seriously?” said Flash, walking towards them, “You’re still trying to sell that story?”
“Get lost, Flash,” Ned said, pulling Peter away from him.
“Sorry, Fred,” Flash replied, “I just find it hard to believe that someone like Ironman would be seen with someone like… Penis Parker, over here.”
Flash gestured to Peter in disgust.
Peter, for once, had nothing to say. It was something that he had been wondering himself. Peter wasn’t that special, apart from the spiderman stuff, but Tony knew a bunch of superheroes, so why is he wasting his time on some kid from Queens?
“You’ve never even met Tony Stark, have you?” Flash asked, taking a step forward, “I bet you don’t even intern at Stark Industries. You just say you do, because you want to seem cool, but guess what Parker? No ones buying it.”
Peter stepped backwards, and hated himself for it. He could easily take Flash, he didn’t have anything to worry about, but somehow he has some deeply ingrained fear of the boy who’s been tormenting him for years.
“Leave us alone, Flash,” Peter said, his voice only wavering slightly, “It’s not our fault you’re so dumb that your application to intern at Stark Industries was denied.”
Ned started laughing, and Flash’s eyes widened slightly, causing Peter to smirk. He’d struck the right chord.
“Shut up!” he said to Ned, who did not stop, “How did you know that? Who told you?”
Peter felt his phone buzz, and he checked it quickly, holding up a finger to Flash, telling him to wait, something he had learned from Tony. It was a text from Happy, saying that he was waiting.
“Tony Stark told me,” he said, smiling, “Really wish I could stay and chat, but that’s him waiting for me,”
Peter gestured to the expensive Audi that had just pulled up, causing Flash’s jaw to drop.
“See ya, Ned!” Peter called over his shoulder to his friend, as he jogged to the car.
Before getting in the car, he turned back, to see Ned still laughing at Flash, who was at a loss for words.
“Hey Flash,” Peter called, “If you want I can put in a good word for you to Mr. Stark?”
“Really?” said Flash, hopeful.
“Nope!”
“What was that about?” asked Happy, as soon as Peter got into the car.
“What happened to hello?” Peter asked, buckling up.
“Huh?”
“You didn’t say hello. Some people consider that to be rude.”
“Alright, kid, hello.” Happy said, and Peter could practically hear him rolling his eyes,
“Hey Happy, how’s it going!” Peter replied cheerily.
“Good. Now, what was that about?”
“What was what about?”
“Peter!! You know exactly what I'm talking about! Before you got into the car! Who were you talking to?” Happy said, getting annoyed.
“Oh, just a friend.” Peter said, turning to stare out the window.
Happy looked at him. Ever since Peter’s homecoming incident, Happy had started to grow fond for the boy. He drove him crazy, but he was really a sweet kid. And Happy had gotten to know him better over these past few months, so by now he could tell when he was hiding something from him. As he mulled over whether to push it or not, Peter interrupted his thoughts.
“Do you know what Mr. Stark wants?” Peter asked, leaning forward to turn up the radio volume.
“Do I ever?” responded Happy, turning the radio back down.
Peter rolled his eyes, but left the radio at the volume it was.
“So,” Happy said casually, “Who’s this new friend of yours?”
“Huh?”
“Y’know, the one you were talking with before you got in the car?”
“Ohhh. Why do you assume he’s new?”
“Well, you haven’t mentioned him to me, and you mention everyone, so I figured he’s new.”
“I don’t tell you everything you know.”
When Happy didn’t respond, he looked from the window to his face, and feeling bad after seeing that that had hurt him.
“Sorry,” Peter mumbled, looking at his hands, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Alright kid,” said Happy, “How’d your science test go? That was today, right?”
And just like that, they were back to normal, with Peter talking Happy’s ear off and Happy pretending to be annoyed when really, he loved talking with the kid.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the tower.
“Bye Happy!” Peter called, getting out of the car.
He got in the elevator, and asked FRIDAY to tell Tony he had arrived.
Almost immediately she took him up to Tony’s penthouse, where he was on the phone with someone.
“Thank you for accommodating us so last minute,” he said into the phone, waving at Peter and gesturing him in. Peter grabbed an apple and sat down on the couch.
“Alright, I will see you soon. Goodbye,” Tony said, hanging up the phone, then turned to Peter.
“Hey kid, how was school?” he asked, walking over to the kitchen to get some coffee.
“It was fine,” Peter said, between bites of his apple, “You got me in trouble in english though,”
“What? How?”
“You texted me in class.”
“Why are you answering your phone in class?” Tony said, sitting down on the couch with his fresh cup, “Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, learning?”
“Normally, yes, but it’s you! Tony Stark was texting me.” Peter said, and having already finished the apple, he tossed it into the garbage.
“Well, yes, that’s true. Anyway, aren’t you wondering why you’re here on a Wednesday?”
“Yes! What’s going on?” Peter said, sitting up.
“Well, I know that visits to the tower on a weekday are a big no-no, but this is time sensitive.” Tony stood up and started walking to the elevator, gesturing for Peter to follow.
“Oh my god. Is it an avengers thing? Am I going on another mission?”
“What? No, god no. Peter, you’re fourteen.” he said, “FRIDAY, take us to the lab.”
“I’m fifteen!” Peter said, as the elevator started to go down.
“Are you?” asked Tony, smirking in a way that showed he already knew.
Peter rolled his eyes, and they both stepped into the lab, which was surprisingly clean.
“What’s going on?” Peter asked, looking around, confused.
Instead of answering, Tony started to boot up his hologram computers.
“Peter, what university do you want to go to?” Tony asked, as he pulled some file up.
“M.I.T, you know this, why?” Peter said.
Tony smiled, then opened the file he pulled up. It was a web page for a M.I.T science fair.
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen this,” Peter said, slouching, “I wanted to do it but I’m too young. You have to be in at least grade 11, and also it costs like a fortune.”
“I pulled some stings.” Tony said, shrugging.
“Wait… what? What do you mean? Isn’t it too late to sign up anyways? It’s this weekend?” Peter said, confused.
“Again, I pulled some strings.”
“I… don’t understand.”
“You know, for a genius, you can be pretty dumb sometimes,”
“I’m not a genius,”
“You’re in the science fair, kid. I signed you up!”
“But…”
“No buts, kid, it’s time to get to work.” Tony said, shutting all of the pages down, “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t think we can afford it.” said Peter, in a small voice, staring hard at his shoes.
“Hey, Peter,” Tony said gently, “Look at me, buddy. I’ve got it all covered, don’t worry.”
“You don’t need to do this for me, Mr. Stark,” said Peter, “I’m just some kid from Queens, I’m not important,”
“Of course you are kid,” Tony said, “And you’re not just some kid from Queens. You’re Peter freaking Parker!”
Peter stayed quiet.
“Kid, I want to do this. Honestly,” Tony said, “and I want to drive you up there, and I want to stay there for a weekend with you, and I want to see you present whatever awesome project you come up with!”
“You’re going to come with me?” Peter asked, shocked.
“Of course I am, kid.” Tony said, ruffling his hair, “I checked with May, she thinks it’s a great idea. It'll be fun!”
“Alright,” Peter grinned, “Let’s do it!”